Coast Guard search continues for 4 missing off Galveston

By Carol Christian

Updated 8:03 pm, Saturday, April 20, 2013

During the two hours that John Reynolds spent clinging to a life raft in the Gulf of Mexico, he was not concerned about his own rescue.

"The main thing was what had happened to the other crew members," Reynolds said after being hoisted from choppy seas by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter before dawn on Friday.

A 56-year-old commercial fisherman from Gaston, Ala., Reynolds was part of a five-man crew on the Nite Owl, a 50-foot fishing boat that sank at 3:30 a.m. Friday about 115 miles southeast of Galveston. Despite extensive search efforts that included cutters, airplanes and helicopters, the Coast Guard has been unable to locate the other four men.

"So far we've covered about 1,800 square miles, about 300 miles larger than the state of Rhode Island," Petty Officer Richard Brahm said early Saturday. The Coast Guard indicated the search would continue through the night.

The search grid is based upon such factors as where the ship went down, wind speed and currents.

The boat had sailed from Port Bolivar on April 12. Its owner, Larry Moore, said he was at home in Golden Meadow, La., when he learned that the vessel's emergency signal had been activated. That signal, transmitted by satellite, also alerted the Coast Guard, which then began an air-sea search.

Moore said he later learned that the crew had hit some choppy seas on Thursday night, and had tied the boat to an oil platform to ride out the storm.

"A rogue wave tore the wheel house and canopy off the boat," Moore said Saturday. "Everyone was asleep when it happened."

The impact threw the crewmen into the water, where they struggled to hold onto debris, Reynolds said.

"We were in the water for about five minutes and then I spotted the life raft," he said.

Reynolds told the others he was going to swim to the raft, which was about 20 feet away, and urged them to follow.

"I believe one of them tried to follow me, but another was too scared to let go (of the debris)," he said.

Although he has worked as a commercial fisherman for 35 years, Reynolds said it was the first time he had ever ended up in the water.

When he saw a Coast Guard jet pass overhead, he fired a flare. The jet's crew spotted his raft and sent the helicopter to get him. Reynolds was grateful to be alive and praised the Coast Guard crew that saved him.

"I want to say how good a job they did getting me out of the water," he said. "It was a terrible ordeal."

Moore said the captain, Charles Patrick of Seattle, Wash., was a close friend who had been sailing the boat for about two years.

The Nite Owl was built for the North Atlantic and was "very, very sea­worthy," Moore said.